More antenna aesthetics

Last Sunday I took a long walk on the hills above Bergen which were covered in snow, sparkling under the sun’s bright rays – a surprising occurrence for this time of the year. My mission was to take photos of a transmission tower that can clearly be seen the city below.

Not knowing exactly how to get to it, I asked about 15 Sunday promenaders, skiers and sledgers for directions. To my dismay, no-one seemed to have any recollection of such a tower, even when I was very close to it (though hidden by the hillside). Even more strange, when I actually arrived at it, it appeared that its location at Blåman was a popular destination for tour goers. Had they forgotten where they were going, or has the tower become so familiar, or arbitrary that it has become invisible?

Approaching the tower, I was expecting the warning sign to say “Danger, Electromagnetic Radiation” or something of the kind. I was wrong. It said “Danger. Falling ice.”

It has a collection of parabola dishes with protective covers fixed to it, and looks like the Eiffel Tower made into a weird drum machine. Looking up from the centre of the tower makes me feel giddy.

Moving around the periphery I at last spot the expected sign: “FM Radiation. Entrance forbidden.” But above it, a small yellow sign exclaiming “turn electricity off when replacing the bulbs on the mast lights”. Delightful! Even I would remember to do that.

Some 20 or so metres away a hut is kept company by several smaller “totem poles”, and in the distance I can see the more notorious transmission tower at Ulriken’s top.

Walking homewards, cables are visible that appear to run down the hillside, anchoring the tower to the city below. I wished to get a closer look at it, but time had run out, and my fingers all swollen with cold ….

A few days later I was presented with these majestic photos of Ulriken’s Tower, taken by Marcus Held, an exchange student at the Department of Fine Art here in Bergen. He was on the same walk as me on the same day, but on the other side of the mountain.

This tower looks much more like a ginormous syringe when viewed from the city than as it appears closer up.